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A Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: AfloatA Sigma 33 One Design keelboat racing on Dublin Bay Photo: Afloat

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Dublin Bay Sailing Club Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly set a three-round windward/leeward course for the first of two DBSC Water Wag races on Wednesday evening, June 14th.

The conditions in Dun Laoghaire Harbour were warm and sunny in a light ESE 3-5kt breeze.

The race officer shortened the race at the weather mark in the third round.

Water Wag spinnakers barely filling in the ESE 3-5kt breeze at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Ann KirwanWater Wag spinnakers barely filling in the ESE 3-5kt breeze at Dun Laoghaire Harbour Photo: Ann Kirwan

Results: 
1. No. 52 Puffin, Seán & Heather Craig
2. No. 47 Peggy, David & Patricia Corcoran
3. No. 38 Swift, Guy Kilroy and crew

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None of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's (DBSC) 22 racing classes managed to race on Saturday, June 11, due to light and variable easterly winds on Dublin Bay.

Race Officers put the fleets to sea but later were forced to cancel due to insufficient breeze.

Racing continues next week. The overall results are below.

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Michael Cutliffe's Ruffles was the winner of Thursday night's (June 7th) Ruffian 23 class AIB DBSC Summer Series racing on Dublin Bay.

A day of strong winds gave way to another light easterly wind on the Bay for evening racing.

The DMYC yacht finished ahead of Ann Kirwan's Bandit from the National Yacht Club. Third in the five-boat race was David Meeke's Alias.

After seven races sailed in the series, Ruffles leads on 4 points from Stephen Gill's Shannagh on 8, with Brendan Duffy's Carmen in third place on 11.

Full results in all DBSC classes below.

Meanwhile, the Irish Ruffian 23 will celebrate its Golden Jubilee at Portaferry Sailing Club in Northern Ireland from June 15th, as Afloat reports here.

Published in DBSC

Dublin Bay Sailing Club Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly set a three-round windward/leeward course for the first of two DBSC Water Wag races on Wednesday evening, June 7th.

After two general recalls, he got the 24-boat fleet away under a black flag.

The wind in Dun Laoghaire harbour was ENE 10-12kts.

Results race 1:
1. No. 52 Puffin, Seán & Heather Craig
2. No. 41 Mollie, Claudine & Annalise Murphy
3. No. 15 Moosmie, John O’Driscoll & Sarah Dwyer

The Race Officer set a second race of two rounds.

Results of race 2:
1. No. 41 Mollie, Claudine & Annalise Murphy
2. No. 45 Mariposa, Cathy MacAleavey & Con Murphy
3. No. 42 Tortoise, William & Laura Prentice

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Overall leader Chris Johnston, skipper of the Beneteau 31.7, Prospect, took the gun in Saturday's light air race in Dublin Bay Sailing Club's AIB Summer Series.

The scratch win was in a six-boat fleet with National Yacht Club clubmate John Power in Levante second. Eoin O’Driscoll's Kernach was third.

Royal Irish's Colin Byrne in the XP33 Bon Exemple continued his winning run in the IRC One division, with a tie for second place between the Fintan Cairns's Mills 30 Raptor and John Hall's J109 Something Else. Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief placed fourth in a nine-boat turnout. 

Full DBSC results in all classes are below

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Brendan Foley's First 8 'Allig8r' was the winner of Thursday night's (June 1st) Class Two IRC AIB DBSC Summer Series racing on Dublin Bay.

The light south-easterly winds that prevailed on the Bay in May are continuing into June.

The Royal St. George yacht finished 40 seconds on corrected time ahead of Lindsay Casey's J97 Windjammer from the same club. Third in the nine-boat race was Leslie Parnell's First 34.7, Black Velvet.

After six races sailed in the series, 1 Windjammer leads on 5 points from Black Velvet on 10, with Allig8r third on 15.

Full results in all classes below

Published in DBSC

Dublin Bay Sailing Club Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly set a triangular course of two rounds for the first of two DBSC Water Wag races on (Wednesday evening, May 31st) in order to maximise the use of the western half of Dun Laoghaire Harbour, keeping clear of the comings and goings of cruise ship tenders.

25 boats competed in a 6-8 knot NNE breeze.

After race one finished the Race Officer was advised by the cruise ship tender operations manager that the course could be extended so he repositioned the weather mark for a longer upwind leg and started race two with two rounds in a 5-6 knot breeze.

Guy Kilroy in No. 38 Swift was the winner of the second DBSC race for the Water Wags at Dun Laoghaire HarbourGuy Kilroy in No. 38 Swift was the winner of the second DBSC race for the Water Wags at Dun Laoghaire Harbour

The results were:

Race One:
1. No. 15 Moosmie, John O’Driscoll
2. No. 38 Swift, Guy Kilroy
3. No. 45 Mariposa, Annalise Murphy

Race two:
1. No. 38 Swift, Guy Kilroy
2. No. 36 Little Tern, Tim Pearson
3. No. 46 Mademoiselle, Adam Winkelmann

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Colin Byrne in the XP33 Bon Exemple continued his winning run in the IRC One division of Dublin Bay Sailing Club's AIB Summer Series on Saturday, taking his second wind from five races sailed. 

In yet another light wind outing, Tim Goodbody's J109 White Mischief was second in the one-hour and forty-five-minute race. Ben Shanahan's National Yacht Club entry Ruth was third.

There was a nine-boat turnout with one DBSC regular, Brian Hall's Something Else, competing at the Scottish Series on the Clyde, where the NYC J109 leads in IRC3.

Overall in the bay's Saturday series, Bon Exemple leads by a single point from White Mischief, with Blast on Chimaera in third. 

Full DBSC results in all classes are below

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Light south-easterly winds meant many classes 'did not finish' racing in Thursday night's (May 25th) AIB DBSC Summer Series racing on Dublin Bay.

Results (below) show Cruisers Zero finished their two-hour race five north of the Bay with Michelle Farrell's Tsunami, a First 40.7, taking the IRC gun from Kyran McStay's Royal Irish X-35, D-Tox. Third was Tim Kane's X-Treme 37 WOW.

In Cruisers Two IRC division, there was one finisher, Leslie Parnell's Frist 34.7, Black Velvet.

The evening's five-knot breeze was slightly better in the south of the Bay, allowing some finishes in the one design divisions. Not least the 11-boat Flying Fifteen division with Alastair Court's Ffinisterre of the DMYC taking the gun from Shane MacCarthy in Mr Potato Head. Third was Neil Colin in FFuzzy.

Published in DBSC

Dublin Bay Sailing Club Race Officer Tadgh Donnelly set a windward/leeward course of three rounds for the DBSC Water Wag race on (Wednesday evening, May 24th) at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

20 boats competed in an 8-10kt NNW breeze but only after a delay of approximately 15 minutes due to cruise ship tender operations in the harbour.

Six boats were over the line at the start, with all bar one of them failing to return.

The results were:

  1. No. 15 Moosmie, John O’Driscoll
  2. No. 52 Puffin, Seán Craig
  3. No. 47 Peggy, David Corcoran
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Page 9 of 134

How to sail, sailing clubs and sailing boats plus news on the wide range of sailing events on Irish waters forms the backbone of Afloat's sailing coverage.

We aim to encompass the widest range of activities undertaken on Irish lakes, rivers and coastal waters. This page describes those sailing activites in more detail and provides links and breakdowns of what you can expect from our sailing pages. We aim to bring jargon free reports separated in to popular categories to promote the sport of sailing in Ireland.

The packed 2013 sailing season sees the usual regular summer leagues and there are regular weekly race reports from Dublin Bay Sailing Club, Howth and Cork Harbour on Afloat.ie. This season and last also featured an array of top class events coming to these shores. Each year there is ICRA's Cruiser Nationals starts and every other year the Round Ireland Yacht Race starts and ends in Wicklow and all this action before July. Crosshaven's Cork Week kicks off on in early July every other year. in 2012 Ireland hosted some big international events too,  the ISAF Youth Worlds in Dun Laoghaire and in August the Tall Ships Race sailed into Dublin on its final leg. In that year the Dragon Gold Cup set sail in Kinsale in too.

2013 is also packed with Kinsale hosting the IFDS diabled world sailing championships in Kinsale and the same port is also hosting the Sovereign's Cup. The action moves to the east coast in July with the staging of the country's biggest regatta, the Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta from July 11.

Our coverage though is not restricted to the Republic of Ireland but encompasses Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Irish Sea area too. In this section you'll find information on the Irish Sailing Association and Irish sailors. There's sailing reports on regattas, racing, training, cruising, dinghies and keelboat classes, windsurfers, disabled sailing, sailing cruisers, Olympic sailing and Tall Ships sections plus youth sailing, match racing and team racing coverage too.

Sailing Club News

There is a network of over 70 sailing clubs in Ireland and we invite all clubs to submit details of their activities for inclusion in our daily website updates. There are dedicated sections given over to the big Irish clubs such as  the waterfront clubs in Dun Laoghaire; Dublin Bay Sailing Club, the Royal Saint George Yacht Club,  the Royal Irish Yacht Club and the National Yacht Club. In Munster we regularly feature the work of Kinsale Yacht Club and Royal Cork Yacht Club in Crosshaven.  Abroad Irish sailors compete in Royal Ocean Racing Club (RORC) racing in the UK and this club is covered too. Click here for Afloat's full list of sailing club information. We are keen to increase our coverage on the network of clubs from around the coast so if you would like to send us news and views of a local interest please let us have it by sending an email to [email protected]

Sailing Boats and Classes

Over 20 active dinghy and one design classes race in Irish waters and fleet sizes range from just a dozen or so right up to over 100 boats in the case of some of the biggest classes such as the Laser or Optimist dinghies for national and regional championships. Afloat has dedicated pages for each class: Dragons, Etchells, Fireball, Flying Fifteen, GP14, J24's, J80's, Laser, Sigma 33, RS Sailing, Star, Squibs, TopperMirror, Mermaids, National 18, Optimist, Puppeteers, SB3's, and Wayfarers. For more resources on Irish classes go to our dedicated sailing classes page.

The big boat scene represents up to 60% of the sail boat racing in these waters and Afloat carries updates from the Irish Cruiser Racer Association (ICRA), the body responsible for administering cruiser racing in Ireland and the popular annual ICRA National Championships. In 2010 an Irish team won the RORC Commodore's Cup putting Irish cruiser racing at an all time high. Popular cruiser fleets in Ireland are raced right around the coast but naturally the biggest fleets are in the biggest sailing centres in Cork Harbour and Dublin Bay. Cruisers race from a modest 20 feet or so right up to 50'. Racing is typically divided in to Cruisers Zero, Cruisers One, Cruisers Two, Cruisers Three and Cruisers Four. A current trend over the past few seasons has been the introduction of a White Sail division that is attracting big fleets.

Traditionally sailing in northern Europe and Ireland used to occur only in some months but now thanks to the advent of a network of marinas around the coast (and some would say milder winters) there are a number of popular winter leagues running right over the Christmas and winter periods.

Sailing Events

Punching well above its weight Irish sailing has staged some of the world's top events including the Volvo Ocean Race Galway Stopover, Tall Ships visits as well as dozens of class world and European Championships including the Laser Worlds, the Fireball Worlds in both Dun Laoghaire and Sligo.

Some of these events are no longer pure sailing regattas and have become major public maritime festivals some are the biggest of all public staged events. In the past few seasons Ireland has hosted events such as La Solitaire du Figaro and the ISAF Dublin Bay 2012 Youth Worlds.

There is a lively domestic racing scene for both inshore and offshore sailing. A national sailing calendar of summer fixtures is published annually and it includes old favorites such as Sovereign's Cup, Calves Week, Dun Laoghaire to Dingle, All Ireland Sailing Championships as well as new events with international appeal such as the Round Britain and Ireland Race and the Clipper Round the World Race, both of which have visited Ireland.

The bulk of the work on running events though is carried out by the network of sailing clubs around the coast and this is mostly a voluntary effort by people committed to the sport of sailing. For example Wicklow Sailing Club's Round Ireland yacht race run in association with the Royal Ocean Racing Club has been operating for over 30 years. Similarly the international Cork Week regatta has attracted over 500 boats in past editions and has also been running for over 30 years.  In recent years Dublin Bay has revived its own regatta called Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and can claim to be the country's biggest event with over 550 boats entered in 2009.

On the international stage Afloat carries news of Irish and UK interest on Olympics 2012, Sydney to Hobart, Volvo Ocean Race, Cowes Week and the Fastnet Race.

We're always aiming to build on our sailing content. We're keen to build on areas such as online guides on learning to sail in Irish sailing schools, navigation and sailing holidays. If you have ideas for our pages we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected]